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Monday, September 29, 2014

During the last day of the summer I visited the National Capitol Columns at the United States National Arboretum with another USK member Tom Condenzio. These are the original columns that once supported the east portico of the Capitol in 1828. As well as the columns were the backdrop of several presidential inaugurations from Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, to Dwight D. Eisenhower. In front of these famous columns Mr. President Abraham Lincoln gave his second presidential inaugural address. To be honest it is a magical place where anyone can get in touch with history at the same time with nature. Walking around this forest of columns it feels like ancient Greece or Rome. It took me 2 visits with a total of 3.5 hrs of sketching and exploring. I used black ink on white paper.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall is great, but tends to be a bit too crowded and filled with toddlers sprinting around. The NASM Udvar-Hazy Center out in Virginia on the other hand is a huge facility with some incredibly awesome aircraft on display, and a much calmer space to sketch about.

You could return there a dozen times and never be lacking for a new interesting, fascinating, and awe-inspiring subjects to sketch, from the Discovery shuttle, WWII planes, aircraft from the birth of flight and every era of flight you can imagine.
And the conservation facility shows a bit of the process involved in restoring and maintaining the amazing pieces at the museum.

Friday, September 5, 2014

I just returned from the 5th Urban Sketchers Symposium in Paraty, Brazil. Over 100 sketchers from around the world converged in Paraty, a little colonial town on the southeastern coast, for a week of sketching, workshops, demos, and eating. I attended workshops by Behzad Bagheri, Suhita Shirodkar, Liz Steel, and João Catarino, some of which were pretty challenging, but from which I learned a lot. We also spent a fair amount of time just sketching together informally in the city, and often sketched each other at mealtimes. I also got to explore Rio de Janeiro for a few days before the Symposium itself started. You can see more of my sketches from the Symposium on flickr, or check out everyone else's work in the Urban Sketchers Paraty Pool.

The Symposium is a lot of fun - I highly encourage any of you to go if you get the chance. It is a lot of fun to explore a new place with a bunch of other sketchers. And since we only get together like this once a year, it is also a bit like a family reunion of sorts - it is great to catch up with people you haven't seen in a while, but whose work you have been following online. I look forward to the next Symposium.

The Art of Urban Sketching

"With sketches and observations from more than 50 cities in more than 30 countries, The Art of Urban Sketching offers a visually arresting, storytelling take on urban life from different cultures and artistic styles, as well as insight into various drawing techniques and mediums. This beautiful, 320-page volume explains urban sketching within the context of a long historical tradition and how it is being practiced today."

Urban Sketchers Print Shop

Visit www.society6.com/UrbanSketchers to check out the selection of gallery quality giclée or fine art prints available in different sizes, and collect your favorites!

All proceeds go to supporting our organization and annual symposiums. We would like to thank the USk correspondents and contributors to regional blogs for their kind donations of images.

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The Urban Sketchers Manifesto1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation. 2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel. 3. Our drawings are a record of time and place. 4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness. 5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles. 6. We support each other and draw together. 7. We share our drawings online. 8. We show the world, one drawing at a time

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The Urban Sketchers logo was created by Italian graphic designer Franco Lancio.